


Raining Frogs

by meefling



Category: Over the Garden Wall, Undertale
Genre: I have a few ways it could end, I will add characters as I expand the story and idea, dunno if this will be long or short
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-15
Updated: 2015-12-15
Packaged: 2018-05-06 22:53:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 12,714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5433842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meefling/pseuds/meefling
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There is a passage that connects the Unknown and the Underground. A specific pair of human brothers, and their frog, discover this on accident. Just another step back in their journey to get home.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“And that’s a rock fact!” Greg cried as he lifted his small friend into the air. In the process, his pseudo-hat toppled from his head and rolled a few feet away from him. With a gasp, he put his rock back into his pants and trotted after the teapot, only for his older brother to beat him to it. His other friend, Lilian the frog, croaked.

The older boy sighed. “Be more careful, Greg.” He advised as he brushed the pot off and placed it back onto Greg’s head comfortably. “It could dent if it falls on, I don’t know… A rock, or something.”

“Oh.” Greg looked around the floor for a rock like his brother had suggested there might be, and upon seeing no such thing, he looked back up at Wirt in confusion. Wirt sighed.

“Nevermind. It’s getting a little dark, maybe it’s time we found shelter.” He suggested, to which Greg’s eyes lit up.

“Are we finally gonna sleep under the stars?” He asked giddily, hands pressed together in front of him. Lilian croaked again and copied the action with his own webby hands.

“What? Greg, no.” Wirt pursed his lips. “At least, not if we can help it.” The taller boy looked around, sighing a little. “I don’t exactly see any towns around here, though. Or houses at all. Or signs. Nothing, really.”

“Wirt?” Greg suddenly spoke up. “Do you think we’ll find Beatrice’s house? Do you think she lives in a tree hole like owls?”

Wirt cringed at the mention of their friend. Former-friend? “I don’t know, Greg, can we not talk about her?”

“Okay.” The younger complied quietly. “Why are you sad? You can tell me, bro.”

“I’m not sad.” Wirt retorted.

“Oh. Well you look really sad.” Greg shrugged.

“You’re looking at me wrong.” Wirt glanced down at Greg.

“Am I?” Greg blinked, then turned his head a full ninety degrees, causing his elephant trunk substitute to tumble back off his head. Wirt again went to fetch it before Greg could.

“I said be careful, Greg.” He mumbled, handing the teapot to his younger sibling once more. “Anyway, I don’t think I’m seeing a lot of shelter possibilities. Let’s just keep walking for now.”

“Okie-dokie!” Greg hummed in response, trotting along in a somewhat happy manner behind Wirt.

Only a few moments of silence passed before Lilian suddenly croaked three times in sequence, trying to draw attention to something he saw.

“What’s the matter?” Greg asked in concern, and looked down at his friend. Lilian pointed, and Greg followed the point. Wirt copied the action. “Wow! A hole!”

“Oh my god. How did we miss this?” Wirt smacked his own head, which resulted in his own tall red cone hat falling off.

Greg looked up at him disapprovingly before shaking his head. “Ain’t that just something.” He sighed dramatically and picked up Wirt’s hat, handing it up to his brother. “Don’t worry, Wirt, I got you covered!”

“Thanks, Greg.” Wirt mumbled with a blush as he once again covered his short, messy hair. “Uh, so this hole. Good job, Gertrude.”

“He’s Lilian now.” Greg informed, although the frog still looked quite proud.

“Yes, right, Lilian, right. Sorry.” He let his shoulders sag. He was rather exhausted. “Should we keep going?”

“Let’s investigate the Grand Canyon first!” Greg suggested, and giggled as he ran towards it to peer over the edge. Wirt tensed.

“Greg, hold up! That probably isn’t--” his breath caught in his throat as his brother suddenly tumbled forward at the fault of a raised root, and gave a startled yelp as he fell right into the gaping hole in the earth.

“GREG!” Wirt cried and ran forward, in a meek attempt to catch his brother before he fell, only to loop his hole around something on the ground, and tip forward. He vaguely recalled Greg’s voice calling for him, and he didn’t know if the croak of fear he heard had come from Lilian or himself.

With that, the two brothers, and a frog, fell into the Underground.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wirt and Greg meet their first Underground monsters, and perhaps they've finally found a place to stay?

Wirt’s ears rung, and his entire body was in pain. He didn’t realize this until he woke with a groan, struck with a crazy sense of deja-vu. He felt vaguely velvety, grassy textures beneath his hands, and he pushed against it, forcing himself into an upright sitting positon.

He opened his eyes and as the static cleared from his vision—he must have bumped his head—he heard and saw his little brother talking to himself.

Wait. No. He was just talking to Bongo the frog.

“Mmmh, ugh… Greg…” Wirt grunted and tried to stand, but upon failing, decided it was a better idea to crawl on his hands and knees over to the smaller boy. Greg beamed suddenly and looked at Wirt.

“Wirt! I’m glad you woke up.” He cheered, then gave his brother a hug. Wirt pushed him away gently. “Anyway, Bongo and I were just talking about how pretty the dandelions were.”

Wirt looked over his shoulder. So the textures had now been identified; yellow flowers.

“Those… Aren’t dandelions, Greg.” Wirt informed, looking back at Greg. “Dandelions are a lot smaller.”

“Oh. Then sunflowers? Because they’re big?” Greg suggested, scratching his chin in thought. Wirt shook his head.

“No, not those either. Those are way bigger, and their stems are a lot thicker and harder. Sunflowers are tall, too, stretching desperately towards the sky. They thirst for sunlight, akin to the thirst of a bee for its’ nectar…” Wirt dissolved into a vaguely poetic mess, and Greg patiently listened.

“Oh. That’s really cool, Wirt, are you a professional?” The statement may have sounded sarcastic if not for the genuinely interested tone Greg’s voice took. Wirt was sure his step bro would suffer for that quality later.

He shook his head, blushing when he realized he’d become poetic. “Uh, ah, no. I’m not.”

“That’s okay, you don’t have to be.” Greg hummed knowingly. “But did you know that when sunflowers grow tall enough, you can climb on top of one and touch the sky?” He dug around in his pants as he spoke, then removed something, holding it up in the air. “That’s a rock fact!” He grinned.

Wirt only sighed, attempting to stand again. “Thanks, Greg. Do you know how long we were down here for?” He managed to get on his feet with the help of the wall, and looked up. That was a long, long fall. How had they made it?

“A long time.” Greg reported, stuffing his rock back into his pants. Bongo croaked. Wirt nodded.

“Alright, time to get moving again, then.” He brushed himself off, not finding any grass or dirt stains, to his surprise. As he began to walk, Greg trotted along after him, Bongo comfortably held to his chest.

They didn’t make it a hundred yards before they were stopped by the sight of a lone yellow flower, all on its’ lonesome. Wirt was caught between disturbed and impressed when he noticed the friendly facial expression on this flower’s face.

“Howdy!” It chirped. Wirt jumped, and Greg’s jaw fell open. “I’m Flowey. Flowey the flower!”

Any intimidation factor the flower had before suddenly left, and Wirt snorted, painting an amused look across his face.

“Flowey the flower… What an original.” He mumbled, and Greg managed to hear him. His jaw snapped shut and he smiled, walking closer to Flowey.

“Hello! I like your name!” Greg chirped, offering his hand. Wirt’s eyes widened and the amused expression died fast.

“Why thank you!” The flower chirped before Wirt could get a word in, but only stared at the hand offered to him. Greg returned the hand to helping hold Bongo up after a few seconds. “Say, I haven’t seen you three around here before. Are you, by chance, new?”

“Yes, we fell through a--” the youth was interrupted by his older step brother, who stepped right forward and cleared his throat.

“Yes, we’re new, and we’d like out, please.” He said curtly, lips pressed in a tight line and eyes squinted. Flowey giggled.

“Oh no, you poor things! Well, while you’re down here, I should teach you the ropes!” He wiggled where he was planted, and Wirt struggled not to find it sickeningly cute and innocent. It reminded him of Greg.

“The ropes?” Greg pondered, looking around. Suddenly his head snapped back to the flower. “Oh wait! You didn’t mean actual ropes. Haha, that was silly of me.” He tilted his head to the side, and when the hat began to teeter off, he gasped and reached up to stabilize it, dropping Bongo to the floor. The frog croaked and climbed up to rest soundly in Greg’s overalls with the rock friend.

“That’s okay, I’ll teach you what to do!” Flowey grinned. Abruptly, Wirt felt a sense of lightheaded-ness. He presumed Greg felt it too, as he wobbled back and forth for a moment. Both boys looked in awe as heart-shaped orbs materialized in front of them, Wirt’s a deep blue colour and Greg’s a brilliant emerald green.

“Oh my god. What is happening?” Wirt asked immediately, once snapped out of the initial shock. He reached up to put his hands beneath the floating heart, as if it would fall to the floor if he didn’t. Flowey just kept smiling eerily.

“Those are your SOULs!” The plant explained. Greg suddenly gasped and looked at Flowey in confusion.

“Shouldn’t you teach Bongo too?” He patted his frog’s head. Flowey looked surprised for a second, before catching up with Greg’s suggestion and shaking his head.

“No, he’s strong, he can protect himself.” Flowey dismissed, which seemed to be enough for the short child. “But you two are weak, you need to build up your defenses!”

Wirt looked cautious, not enjoying the pit that had settled in his gut.

“Down here, you get strong by gaining what we call LV.” Flowey explained.

“Oh, oh!” Greg spoke up. “Does that stand for love? It sounds like it does!” Wirt blinked down at the boy, wondering how he could be that naïve. He was about to explain that no, it did not, when the plant before them interrupted.

“Actually, yes, you’re right.” He looked caught off-guard, a suddenly perplexed expression on his face. “Have you been here before?”

“No, neither of us have been.” Wirt decided to answer that one. Flowey looked a little ticked at that, and the human didn’t know if he felt victorious or like he’d just lost the game.

“… Oookay. Well, anyway, on with the lesson.” Flowey put back up his happy act.

Wirt was sure it was an act. It totally had to be.

“Here, see these?” As Flowey spoke, two clusters of white seed-like pellets appeared in front of each brother. “These are… De-weakening pellets. They’ll make you strong if you touch them with your SOULs!”

“Oh wow, cool!” Greg stared in amazement. “How do I… Uh.” His wonder was dulled a little as he tried to touch his SOUL with just his bear hands. Flowey wiggled again.

“No, no, no, move it with your willpower!” He instructed. Wirt blinked, unsure what he meant, but soon discovered he was able to move the heart around with something like telepathy. Greg looked up at Wirt, seeing his success, before he gave it a try too, and after a few grunts and attempts, he too was successful. Flowey smiled in approval.

“Okay, are you ready?” He asked the pair. Greg nodded enthusiastically, while Wirt gave no response. “Okay, go! Collect the pellets!” He cheered, and with that, the clusters of white seeds moving towards the hearts.

In a shift of gears, Wirt decided to dodge the pellets, with little effort required. His choice seemed to be the correct one, as Greg had chosen to run right into the seeds with his SOUL. The taller boy heard his step brother cry out in an off-guard manner, stumbling backwards. Bongo ribbitted in alarm, and Wirt drew in a sharp breath.

“Greg?!” He called in worry, crouching and turning to get on Greg’s eye level. The boy shook, looking at Wirt with equal worry.

“I don’t feel very healthy, Wirt…” He almost stuttered, looking very much not healthy, as he had said. Wirt looked at Flowey, about to demand an explanation, but his words choked in his throat.

Flowey was grinning in a much more maniacal manner, eyes narrowing maliciously, and even his soft petals took on a rigid quality.

“You idiots…” He growled slowly, and Wirt noticed with fright that his voice had lowered into something much more evil-sounding. “In this world, it’s KILL or be KILLED.”

The two humans and their frog flinched when they were all suddenly surrounded by a circle of the white pellets.

“DIE.”

Greg looked at Wirt, about to be scared, before he noticed his older step sibling was also scared. He put on his game face and held onto Wirt’s hands. “Don’t worry, Wirt. We are going to be okay!” He murmured to his bro, who looked back at him in shock. If Wirt wasn’t strong, then Greg just had to be strong for both of them!

The pellets, more like bullets, started advancing towards them, and Flowey laughed loud and proud as he geared up to murder the terrified trio.

Just as Wirt was about to scream something about not wanting to die, the bullets suddenly vanished, and the sound of crackling fire replaced Flowey’s demented laughter.

Wirt and Greg both watched in stunned silence as a fireball flew from the hand of a figure covered in shadows, right into the flower’s side. With a startled yelp, petals singed a little, the little plant burrowed away underground like it had never been there in the first place. Wirt’s SOUL vanished back into his chest, while Greg’s remained floating and damaged in front of him.

“Wow… That was… I’m a…” Wirt babbled, and Greg silently put his fat little hand up and slapped it over Wirt’s mouth, quieting him. Wirt followed Greg’s line of sight to the being who had saved them, and they emerged from the dark of the doorway, now bathed in light.

The female figure was a more complicated creature than Flowey had been, by means of not being a plant. She stood tall, taller than Wirt and even taller than his red cone hat, and seemed to be covered in white fur. She had what looked like some sort of robe on with a royal crest on the apron, which reminded Wirt of something religious or medieval. Her features were soft, her goat-like face mussed in an expression of serenity crossed with disappointment.

“Goodness, he got to you first, I see. I’m terribly sorry.” Her voice was just as serene, soft and loving. Her expression shifted to one of encouragement. “Do not be frightened, my children.”

“Thanks for saving us, goat lady!” Greg blurted out with a smile, and then coughing, putting his hands over his mouth. Bongo croaked and smiled up at the woman. Wirt stammered, unsure if that would offend her.

“A-ah, he didn’t mean it.” He said with a wave of his hands. “No, I mean, he meant thank you for saving us, but he didn’t mean the goat lady part. Uh, unless you’re okay with that, in which case, um…” He trailed off with a red face, Greg watching and listening to him patiently as usual. The being before them laughed.

“It’s quite alright, I do not mind!” She assured, and Wirt let the unconscious tenseness in his shoulders dissolve. “I am Toriel, guardian of the ruins. I am sorry I didn’t intervene sooner, I wasn’t aware that creature was upon you. I can assure you I am here to help. Did he injure you?”

“Not me, but my step brother here.” Wirt said hastily, looking down to Greg. The boy scoffed and waved his hand.

“I can take it.” He assured in a faux tough guy voice. Toriel found it charming and stepped forward, to which Wirt stepped back. Greg looked up at her.

“Do not worry, my child. I will heal you.” She assured, and gently cupped her hands around his SOUL. With a warm, fuzzy feeling that caused Greg to giggle, the SOUL was fully healed, and the short human was feeling much better. The SOUL then retreated back into Greg’s chest as Wirt’s had, earlier.

“Thanks again!” He smiled, and held up his frog friend. “This is Bongo, but that’s subject to change. Frog names aren’t always set in stone, you know!”

Bongo croaked and gave some sort of a wave. Toriel crouched so she was more on Greg's level.

“Ah, is that so, little one?” Toriel smiled softly. “Pleased to meet you, Bongo.” She shook the frog’s webbed hand, to the animal’s delight. She then looked to Wirt. “Would you and your brother like to accompany me to my home? I can make you something to eat.” Wirt almost booyah’d, but held back, instead giving a polite smile.

“Yes, that’d be really good. Uh, thank you, Toriel.” He looked down meekly, and she chuckled good-heartedly.

“Not at all, my child. Come now, follow me.” She stood fully, then turned and began to lead them through the Ruins, politely listening to Greg’s babbling. Wirt was then left to his own thoughts for the first time in a long time, trailing after the chatty pair.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wirt and Greg follow Toriel back to her house, and they settle in quickly. Wirt, however, knows they cannot stay, and encounters Toriel in her basement about the matter.
> 
> (This chapter was very hard to write, I'm not fond of writing internal character dialogues and whatnot, so I'm sorry if this chapter feels forced or slow!)

Wirt walked quietly behind Toriel and Greg, who were talking animatedly about who knows what. From what the older brother heard, Greg was telling stories about their journey so far, and had evolved to telling her all about where they lived. She seemed incredibly intrigued, acting as if it was all new information to appease the young child. Or perhaps she genuinely didn’t know anything of what Greg was saying.

“And then Wirt did a kind of corny dance, which was okay because in the end we made friends with a horse and saved Beatrice from this old bad man!” Greg chimed. “She’s our friend, but she’s not here right now.”

“Yes, I believe you’ve mentioned her a few times.” Toriel said patiently with a smile. “How come she isn’t here?” she asked.

“I don’t know.” Greg answered honestly, but then turned to Wirt. “Why didn’t Beatrice follow us after we found Adelaide?”

Wirt looked at his step brother in astonishment, blinking a few times. “Uh… She had something important to do. With Adelaide.” He half-lied. “I don’t like talking about it.” Toriel perked up in concern.

“Is she alright?” She asked. Wirt gave a very forced smile up to the goat woman.

“Yes, yes, she’s fine, let’s not worry about her.” He said quickly. Toriel frowned, but said nothing more on the manner.

“I see. Very well. Greg, what happened after you saved her? Where did you go?” She prompted the smaller of the two. He immediately lapsed back into story, and Wirt was once again left to his silence.

He tried to think about anything but the bluebird he’d previously thought to be their ally, but it was hard not to keep returning to her, especially when Greg spoke her name occasionally in his story-telling. Toriel seemed to now realize that the name was a bit of a trigger, as well. She glanced at Wirt on occasion to make sure he was doing alright, and he appreciated her effort to make sure he wasn’t upset.

There wasn’t anything she could do in that moment to make him feel better, though. Wirt didn’t even know what to think of Beatrice, he just… Thought of her. He replayed memories with her in them, over and over. He heard her voice in his ears, and recalled what he used to think of her. Wirt didn’t think particularly negatively or positively of her, just… Thought of her.

It made him angry, that he couldn’t remove her from his head, or even come to a concise opinion about her. Of course, it pained him to see her betrayal of him and his step brother, but somehow that wasn’t enough to completely ruin his opinion of her. In fact, it made things more difficult for him. She had treated him and Greg relatively nicely, albeit with some teasing and a little bit of verbal cruelty, but nonetheless she still made it easier to get through the Unknown. They would have surely been hopeless without her.

That train of thought stopped quickly when another factor was brought begrudgingly to his attention; She had just been leading them to doom anyhow, would they have actually been more safe if they didn’t follow her? She said they would be able to go home if they trusted her. Then, was there really no escape?

And now they were even further away from familiarity…

“Oh! It’s another ghost.” Greg suddenly said, and the group stopped. Wirt snapped out of his revelry to look down blankly at the ghost lying in the leaves. They seemed to panic all of a sudden and shut their eyes.

“Zzzzz… Zzzzz…” The ghost began to say out loud. Toriel giggled.

“My friend, there is no need for that. May we pass?” She asked, kindly. The ghost jolted and seemed to float into a more standing position.

“Ohh, I was in your way…” They mumbled. “I’m so sorry, I should have just moved…” Wirt rose a brow. Were they okay?

“Oh, it’s fine, mister.” Greg waved his hand dismissively. “Or are you a miss?”

“They are most certainly not a miss.” Toriel huffed. “They are clearly here, and not missing.” She beamed at her own joke, to which Wirt snorted and covered his mouth to hide a smile. How awful. Greg laughed openly, and the ghost seemed to appreciate the lightening of the mood.

“Heh… I’ll get out of your way now…” They mumbled before fading into seemingly nothing.

“Goodbye, Mx. Ghost!” Greg waved cheerfully. Wirt tilted his head.

“Uh. That wasn’t a real ghost, right?” He inquired, and Toriel glanced to him.

“Why wouldn’t they be? Of course they were a real ghost.” She said, as if completely out of the ordinary. Wirt stared at her, then tilted his head the other way.

“Do you talk to them often?” he asked. Toriel began to walk again with Greg, so Wirt did as well.

“I suppose not, but our interactions are usually even more curt than that one.” She seemed wistful. Before her and Wirt could speak any further, Greg dragged the tall monster back into his story, to which she patiently listened.

Wirt once again tried not to think.

OoOoO

“Wow! Your house is really cute!” Greg exclaimed upon seeing said structure ahead of them, running up ahead. Toriel laughed softly.

“Thank you, my child. I find it very cozy.” She commented, and walked a little faster to keep up with the hyper little human. Wirt remained at his slower pace, taking his time making it over to her home.

“It is very nice.” He said quietly, observing the differences in style from this house and all the other houses in the Unknown that he had seen. Then again, he thought to himself, they probably weren’t really in the Unknown anymore, were they?

“Come inside.” Toriel beckoned, and the short human raced inside, babbling to his frog, Jeb. The tall human followed suit in a much calmer manner. Toriel went in after them.

“Here is my home, children.” She introduced, watching Greg flit around her living space in excitement. Wirt smiled a little, happy to be inside.

“Thank you for letting us stay here.” He looked up at the goat woman, and she looked down at him.

“You are most welcome! Would you like to see where you’ll be sleeping?” She offered. Wirt was about to protest, before he realized that they may indeed be staying there long enough to have to sleep at some point.

“That’d be great, actually.” Wirt almost stammered, then stuck his hand up in a ‘halt’ gesture as Greg was about to speed by. “Greg, wait. Toriel’s showing us our room.”

Greg skidded to a stop, and Jeb looked slightly dizzy. “Okay!” He bounced a bit on his heels. Wirt had never seen his step brother so excited to be in somebody else’s house. It did kind of remind him of their own home, in design, now that he looked around more closely.

Toriel lead them down the hallway and stopped at the first door. “Here we are. This should suit you.” She opened up the door, and Greg once again sped inside. He gravitated to the toys right away, and dug around for one he liked. All the while, he muttered about how these toys were too child-like for someone as old as himself. Wirt found it amusing.

“This should keep him settled for a while.” Wirt muttered, and Toriel hummed happily. But then, she frowned.

“There is only one bed,” She stated, looking around the room. “My apologies, I was not prepared for two people. I shall have to get out a cot for one of you to sleep in before I can purchase a second bed, unless you two would like to share.”

“I’ll take the cot.” Wirt immediately volunteered, slightly louder and quicker than he had meant to. Toriel giggled.

“Very well. Would you two like anything to eat? I can get something for your frog, as well.” She offered. Greg was brought to attention at the mention of eating.

“Do you have any candy?” He asked immediately, twisting around to look up at her. She faltered.

“Ah, perhaps you should have a proper meal first.” She suggested. Wirt face-palmed.

“We don’t have any allergies.” Wirt informed. “Uh, I’m not picky, and Greg will probably eat anything I eat.” Greg puffed his cheeks out.

“I just have a preference for candy.” He informed, crossing his arms. Jeb croaked and mimicked the action. Toriel chuckled.

“We can meet halfway. I’ll make a pie.” She suggested. Greg’s eyes went wide.

“I haven’t had pie in a long time!” He stumbled up to his feet, holding Jeb under one arm and an oversized rubber duck under the other.

“Oh really? Well, what kind would you like?” She looked between the two humans. Wirt shrugged.

“Anything is fine with me.” He said.

“Mmm, Jeb says he wants a mud pie.” Greg reported, then stuck his tongue out. Toriel laughed good-heartedly.

“Perhaps we can all pick which pie I make together. Let me show you to my kitchen.” She offered, and left the bedroom. Greg followed, and Wirt did also. He stopped at the sight of a sizable bookshelf, and audibly gasped.

“You guys go make a pie, I’m gonna read.” He stated, then quickly looked at Toriel. “If that’s, uh, okay with you.”

“Of course, my child,” She gazed at the bookshelf, then back to Wirt, with almost a look of affection. “Read as much as you’d like.”

OoOoO

Greg and Toriel had managed to bake a wonderful pie with what ingredients Toriel had, and they had even managed to incorporate both fruits and chocolate into the mix. It was like a dinner and a dessert, all in one. An excellent first meal.

Toriel had found a spare mattress, and set it up as bed-like as she could in the humans’ temporary room. Wirt thanked her very much for everything she was doing, and she appeared even more appreciative that they chose her to stay with.

Greg was taking a very well-deserved sleep now, and Wirt had gone back to reading. He learned a lot about this place; about monster kind. He learned about their history with humans, about their culture, about their lifestyles.

He grew curious, however, upon completing this particularly informative novel. He closed it and put it aside, standing. He had questions for Toriel about what lie beyond the Ruins, and how to get back up on the surface. The novel hadn’t mentioned anything of how to leave.

Further than that, Wirt hadn’t even seen anywhere else to go from here, no way to exit the Ruins themselves. There had to be a way, right? Greg and him couldn’t stay here forever, after all.

Even if Toriel was giving him the heavy impression that she wanted them to.

“Toriel?” He called softly. He didn’t receive an immediate response, and frowned. After checking the kitchen, and knocking on her bedroom door, he came to the quick conclusion that she was in the basement.

The tall monster hadn’t allowed Greg down there, and when Wirt asked her why, she hadn’t let him know, quickly changing the topic. He felt kind of dirty as he descended the stairs, but he could hear her soft voice echoing down the long corridor, and trekked onwards.

“…Canoe who? … Oh! That is a good one!’” Toriel’s words became more clear, along with her laughter. He rose a brow. Was she speaking with herself? “Okay, my turn? Knock knock!”

Wirt turned the corner, and flinched when he saw the tall goat woman standing by a huge door at the end of the hall.

“Who’s there?” Came another muffled voice. It was wildly different from Toriel’s, deep and calm-sounding.

“Henrietta.” Toriel held back a snicker.

“Henrietta who?”

“Henrietta worm that was in their apple!” She finished, then began to laugh. Wirt heard a faint laugh from the other party as well.

“Man, that was good. Okay, here’s another. Knock knock.” Before the voice or Toriel could go on, Wirt spoke up.

“Um, excuse me?” he called to her. She yelped and spun around, leaning her back against the door.

“Child! You should not be here.” She exclaimed, staring at him with wide, nervous eyes. “Please go back upstairs.”

“… What?” The voice piped up again, entirely confused. Wirt was almost inclined to listen to Toriel and leave, he felt like he had interrupted something genuine.

“I, ahh, shoot. C-can I ask you some questions?” His voice wavered. Toriel straightened her back and began to walk towards her, causing Wirt to tense.

“Please go upstairs.” She repeated, trying to sound intimidating. It worked, but Wirt tried to stand his ground.

“Wi-will you come up with me and we-we can talk about things?” He squeaked, taking a few steps back. Toriel sighed, sounding tired.

“Yes, I will, in a few moments. Now, up you go.” She stepped more towards him, and he took a deep breath before he turned and headed back down the long hallway. Toriel followed him all the way up.

“Ah, uh, who was that?” Wirt asked.

“That is none of your concern, my child.” She lowered her voice, sounding a little sad. “Is it not your bedtime yet?” she changed the topic.

“Uh, sure… I-I guess some sleep wouldn’t hurt. Boy am I tired! Haha…” Wirt responded nervously, hurrying up the stairs. Toriel followed behind him and sighed again.

“I am sorry if I frightened you, my child.” She apologized. “You just surprised me, is all.”

“It’s, it’s fine.” He responded with a nervous buzz. “Can we talk now or… Are you going back?” Toriel bit her lip. Neither made eye contact.

“Perhaps we can speak tomorrow? You should go and sleep.” She beckoned, and Wirt nodded quickly, hat wobbling.

“Yep, I am going to go do that. Goodnight. Bye.” He stammered quickly, scurrying down the hallway and entering the room designated as their own.

He listened as Toriel descended the stairs again, and took a deep breath, getting out of his clothing and crawling onto the makeshift bed.

“Goodnight, Wirt.”

Wirt sputtered.

“Greg, you’re still awake? Go back to bed.”

“Sorry, Wirt. I just heard you and goat mom talking.”

“‘Goat mom’?”

“I didn’t hear what you talked about, though.” Greg sounded interested.

Wirt took a deep breath. “We are talking to Toriel about leaving tomorrow.”

“Oh. I like it here. Can…” Greg yawned mid-sentence. “Can we visit?”

“Sure, Greg.” Wirt mumbled back.

“M’kay. Goodnight, Wirt.”

“Goodnight, Greg.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wirt and Greg work on leaving the Ruins, with unexpected, but eventual welcome results.
> 
> (I am not pleased with this chapter, I veered into OOC territory and eventually I was dragging it across the ground so I decided hey, let's just upload it and stop tryna change it, y'all have been waiting long enough ;u;)

“Uh, T-Toriel, er,” Wirt tried to begin, approaching the goat monster in the kitchen the next morning. She glanced to him from where she was chopping some kind of vegetable, smiling warmly.

“Yes, my child? Are you alright?” She inquired, and at her friendly demeanor, Wirt forgot a bit of his intimidation and straightened his back.

“Y-yeah, fine, just. About last night, we should talk.” He got the rest of his request out, a little out of order, but his point was across. Her expression hardened.

“Would you mind holding your questions until after your food is prepared? We can discuss as you eat, with your sibling.” She suggested. Wirt coughed.

“Step-sibling.” He corrected, and Toriel hoped the human wouldn’t catch the way her eyes saddened. He caught it anyway. “Uh… That would be… Fine, I guess.”

“Wonderful. We’ll speak then.” She concluded, and went back to chopping her vegetables. Wirt quietly slinked out of the kitchen before she could offer him a job helping with the food.

“Wirt! Thank goodness you’re back!” Greg looked up from his paper when Wirt entered the living room, and Wirt blinked.

“Ah, um. Yeah?” the taller of the two walked over to the table, to see his step-sibling scribbling on a large piece of paper with crayons.

“Yeah! Vivian and I were just talking about what to draw next, but we can’t decide.” He said, looking back down at his paper. “Should I draw a tree, or a snail?”

“Uh, doesn’t Toriel like snails? Draw one of those.” He suggested. Greg nodded affirmatively.

“Thanks Wirt! Do you want to draw the tree?” He asked, and Wirt shrugged.

“You know what? Sure.” He sat beside his step brother. He knew Greg wasn’t picky with colours, so he picked up a purple crayon and began to draw the tree.

The quiet scribbling was broken by Greg’s voice. “Wirt?”

“Yeah, Greg?” He responded, a little distractedly.

“How long are we staying here?”

The question nearly made Wirt flinch. It reminded him of his own lineup of questions for their present caretaker. Vivian croaked when he didn’t answer after a couple moments.

“A-ah, not much longer, I hope.” He stammered in response. “I’m, uh, we’re gonna talk to Toriel about it later.”

“Oh, good.” Greg nodded. “I like it here, but I was thinking this morning, about our little talk last night.” He said in a too-mature voice. “And my adventure senses are beginning to itch.” He emphasized this by scratching his cheek, then got back to drawing snails.

“Err, yeah.” He mumbled, lowering his voice. “Greg, what if we had to stay here?” The younger stopped drawing again, looking up at Wirt.

“I like goat mom, but I want to explore also.” He put a hand to his chin. “And you want to go home, so… We can’t stay here! Then neither of us get our wishes.” Wirt found a small smile cross his lips. There were times where he could really relate to his half brother.

“You’re right. We’re definitely not staying much longer. We’ll be on our way home again by tomorrow.” Wirt announced softly, and Greg beamed before he went back to his snails, improvising a song about them. Wirt watched with brotherly affection before he shook his head and went back to his tree, considering creating a forest out of it.

As the pair drew and talked quietly, Toriel finished up their breakfast (or perhaps lunch?) and the crayons and paper were put away as she set the table and got their meals onto plates. Wirt’s anxiety began to fill up again when he thanked her for the meal and began to eat, somewhat cautiously.

“Uh.” He began, but quickly stopped himself again. Toriel gave him a glance before focusing on her own food again. “Err…” Wirt trailed off again, this time getting no look from the goat monster. It became apparent to him that she didn’t want to talk about this, and would gladly wait for him to drop it before acknowledging the subject.

“Excuse me goat mom,” Greg spoke up. Toriel looked to the smaller of the two and smiled.

“Yes, my child?” she happily acknowledged. Wirt made a face.

“When can we leave?” He asked bluntly.

Tension filled the air faster than the words had left Greg’s mouth, and Toriel stiffened, soft facial expression becoming strained. Wirt looked nervously between the pair, Greg looking innocent and curious as usual and Toriel looking like she definitely had something to hide.

“… How about you finish your food, dear?” She offered, taking another forkful of her own vegetable mixture. Greg shook his head, he had eaten most of it already.

“No, I’m okay, thank you. You didn’t answer my question, goat mom.” Greg pointed out naively. Wirt shot his brother a look, suddenly deciding maybe it was better to be a coward right now than to fight for his freedom to leave this place.

Toriel sighed. “This is your home now, children. You may leave for small adventures during the day, but you do have a curfew…”

“No, I meant that we have an adventure to go on,” Greg cut her off, elaborating as he patted the table with his little hands. “A big one. And we can’t stay here. Wirt really wants to go home,” The smaller human once again missed the look his older step brother shot him. “And my adventure itch is getting itchier.”

“Greg, that is enough.” Toriel said abruptly, standing from the table. Wirt shrank back, while Greg only perked up, intrigued. “Wait here, I must do something.”

The woman rushed out of the room, abandoning the two humans and their frog.

Wirt looked at Greg, mouth aghast.

“Greg, you just, she’s gonna, I don’t--” He babbled, only to stop when Greg held his hands up in a ‘stop’ motion.

“It’s all okay, Wirt! She’s going to let us out!” He was smiling confidently as he lowered his hands again. “I can feel it. She is good.”

Wirt looked doubtful still. “I don’t think…”

“As a matter of fact,” Greg interrupted, hopping off his chair. “She’s gonna go let us out right now!” He pushed his chair in politely, as Wirt got off his own chair with a startled expression and a bit of a stumble.

“Greg, how do you know that?” He pressed, following the smaller human to the staircase. “How do you know she’s not like Adelaide or something?”

“Oh, I don’t know.” Greg stopped at the top of the steps to shrug back at his step brother. “I just know.” Vivian croaked, and Wirt gulped.

“I’m… Okay, your gut hasn’t been wrong often,” He admitted, letting his shoulders drop the tension he hadn’t known he was carrying. “Especially on this, uh, adventure… I’ll trust you this time.” He gave Greg a nod and a firm look.

The smaller boy returned the look and nod, then turned around again to descend the stairs, holding Vivian a little tighter as they poked out of the front of his overalls. Wirt followed diligently, finding he didn’t mind the change of positions.

He especially admired their role swap when he saw Toriel round the corner down the hall, disappearing from sight. She was heading to the door.

“That’s the way out!” Greg cried, pointing triumphantly. “Let’s go, Wirt!” He began a kind of run-walk, quickly moving across the hall to turn the same corner Toriel did. Wirt stammered for a second before he followed, feeling himself begin to sweat.

Once the humans and their frog made it to the end of the hall, they turned the corner, and Wirt felt a vague sense of Deja-Vu looking at the tall goat woman crouching to a lower height by the door.

Toriel was murmuring to the door again, and Wirt didn’t hear anything back, even as he and Greg got closer. He couldn’t quite pick up what was being said, but she sounded desperate. Once they were a food few meters away, Greg took a deep breath.

“Hi, goat mom!” He chirped, making Toriel flinch and snap out of whatever trance she may have been in just then. She turned her body to look at the pair, at first looking panicked but then switching to something akin to frustration or anger. It was the look of a mother about to scold.

“Children, go back upstairs!” She demanded, getting off her knees to stand at her full height again. Wirt shrank back, but Greg took a step forward. Wirt didn’t miss the flash of surprise that flew over Toriel’s face at the act of defiance before her.

“No can do, goat mom, we have to go.” He said again, shaking his head. “We have a lot of adventuring to do!” Toriel’s expression became harsh again.

“You’ll only get hurt out there!” She tried to convince them, her almost hand-like paws clenched to become fists. “Go upstairs where it’s safe, I can take care of you!”

Greg sounded utterly flabbergasted next he spoke. “Were you listening to my stories? We won’t get hurt, Wirt’s pretty strong and I know he’s capable of protecting himself.” He spoke maturely, and Wirt forgot that his step brother was younger for him only for a moment. “I’m also a big boy, so you don’t have to worry about me either, goat mom.” All at once, Wirt remembered how young Greg was again.

Toriel was caught between fuming and begging when she spoke next. “If you… If you really think you’re that strong, then…” She took a deep breath and lifted one hand, palm up. “Prove it.”

As a blaze of fire magic ignited her palm, the lights in the room darkened, and the humans felt the familiar tug of their SOULs being removed from their bodies. The sight made Vivian nervous, and the frog popped down into Greg’s overalls to hide. Wirt immediately panicked.

“Toriel, please, is this—do we have to do this?!” He cried, putting his hands on Greg’s shoulders and pulling him back a little. “We’re just two lost boys, we just want to go home!”

“You don’t understand, naïve children,” Toriel shook her head with an upset smile. "You will get even more hurt out there. If you can't handle MY attacks... Then..." She threw her hand forwards, propelling the fireball at the pair. Wirt yelped and quickly dodged, tugging Greg out of the way. The shorter one looked disgruntled, if anything.

“Wirt, she’s not actually gonna hurt us!” He looked up at his brother, speaking confidently again. Wirt felt his eyes bulge.

“Are you crazy?! She’s flinging fire at us!” He cried, quickly dodging another fireball. Greg shook his head.

“She won’t actually hurt us.” He said again, looking back at Toriel. She appeared too focused on conjuring magic to listen to them.

“W-we should run, Greg! Come on!” Wirt tried to convince, moving closer to his step sibling. He was about to just pick up the small boy and run for it, but dodging the quickly approaching flame magic took priority, and he jumped out of the way, expecting Greg to do the same.

He heard a grunt of pain, and then his heart lurch.

Wirt spun around in time to see the child fall to his knees, his SOUL trembling in front of his body. Even though he tried to hide them, it was obvious Greg had scorch marks across his front, and his shuddering form gave away that he had been greatly damaged.

The taller human could only cry out as he staggered forward again, quickly gathering Greg in his arms and feeling his panic levels rising. He only felt his anxiety lessen slightly when he saw Greg was still breathing and conscious. He felt like this wouldn’t be the first time he saw his brother this wounded…

Toriel’s paws were over her muzzle and she stared with wide eyes at the humans before her. She had intended to attack, she couldn’t take that back, but she had not intended to bring either of them that close to death. She was only lucky she was holding back so much of her real magic, otherwise she feared she would have…

“You… I’m so sorry.” She whispered, and Wirt glared immediately at her, nearly making her flinch.

“Sorry? Is that all? He could have been dead!” The elder child rose his voice, clearly becoming passionate upon seeing his sibling in such a state. Toriel was about to speak again, when Greg reached his small hand up and placed it onto Wirt’s mouth, as he tended to do a lot lately.

“Shhh. She didn’t mean it.” He assured his step brother, who looked ready to retort anyways. Greg stopped him before he could. “She is good, she didn’t mean it. I’m okay.” He smiled optimistically, sitting up a little more. Vivian peeped out of his overalls again, looking at Toriel. They croaked quietly and reached their webbed little hand out at the monster. She hesitated. Greg looked at her too.

“It’s okay, right? Look at how tough my brother is.” Greg said with a big grin, and the compliment broke Wirt out of the anger for a moment so he could look perplexedly at his step brother. “We’re going to be just fine.”

“My children…” Toriel looked like she was tearing up, then cast a look to the door separating the Ruins and the rest of the Underground. She lowered her hands and held them in front of her chest as she looked back down at the humans, smiling sadly.

“I suppose you… were right.” She said before she could choke up any further, averting her eyes from the pair. “I’m sure you two will be fine. Forgive me for… Losing myself, there.” Greg waved a hand dismissively as he tried to stand up, wobbling.

“No worries, goat mom, you just wanted to help.” He assured, and Wirt tried to get the child to relax a little and sit back down. He was too focused on that task to notice Toriel suddenly appearing before them and he yelped loudly, flinching backwards. She crouched beside the humans.

“Allow me to heal you.” She murmured, taking Greg’s SOUL into her hands gently. It glowed brighter in her soft grasp, and Greg felt his injuries close and fix themselves with a little bit of a tingle. He giggled, which seemed to put Wirt at ease also. Their SOULs absorbed back into their chests once he was healed fully.

Toriel smiled sadly to the pair as she stood back up, stepping back. “Once you go through this door, please promise me you will not come back through.” She urged. Greg immediately saluted.

“Okay!” He chirped, and Vivian mimicked the gesture with a croak. Wirt stood also, once he was sure Greg was okay.

“Uh, we, err, ended off kind of roughly, there.” Wirt coughed, not meeting the monster’s eyes. “But… Thank you. In the end, you definitely helped us. Uh, thanks for that. I hope we can meet again.” Toriel stepped back, looking nostalgic.

“Yes, I… I wish we could. We will have to see, I suppose.” She nodded, looking down. Greg frowned.

“Do you need a hug?” He asked, reaching his arms up. Wirt was about to stammer a “no we have to get moving don’t hug the goat monster”, but Toriel spoke before him.

“Oh heavens, child, if you’d like a hug, I can certainly give you one.” She got onto her knees again and held her arms out, and Greg ran over to give her as big a hug as his tiny arms could manage.

“No, this hug is for you!” He protested, and Vivian wiggled a bit in the front of his overalls, croaking in slight distress. Toriel laughed quietly and looked to Wirt, who remained unsure of how to respond to the whole situation.

“Would you like a hug too, my child?” she asked him, to which he stiffened and then cleared his throat. He walked over awkwardly and wrapped his arms around her neck, hugging her over Greg. She then wrapped her arms around both humans, and the group remained that way for a few long moments.

Toriel broke the hug, unwrapping her arms from the humans and standing carefully, looking down at them. “Take care, my children.” She bid them farewell, then began to walk back down the hallway to go upstairs. Greg waved to her, then made his way over to the door. Wirt’s gaze, however, lingered on her, and he caught her glancing over her shoulder at them one last time.

She shot him an apologetic smile before she hurried down the hall, turning the corner and disappearing from view.

Wirt sighed, feeling an odd blend of guilty and wistful, and began to mumble poetry about the compound emotion as he helped Greg open the heavy stone door before them. Once they slipped through, he helped close it again, and once again his brother took the lead, trotting down yet another long hallway with what looked like a familiar sun spot up ahead.

The humans continued their adventure.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wirt questions everything, and Greg trusts everything, even the vaguely intimidating animate skeleton.
> 
> [[this fic is getting long, so I may begin making continuity errors. Please lemme know if you spot any, and leave some constructive criticism!!]]

“I liked goat mom.” Greg hummed, swinging his arms as he walked. “I hope we see her again.”

Wirt shrugged. “Yeah, I guess.”

Clarence croaked, looking up at Greg. The younger of the humans nodded.

“You’re absolutely right,” he stated. “We’ll be visiting everyone again one day! Maybe we’ll go on the same adventure twice!” His face scrunched up. “Err, maybe not EXACTLY the same.”

“Greg,” Wirt interrupted before Greg could continue. “When we get home… Do you want to write down what we saw here?” His brother lit up.

“Yeah! You mean like a story book?” He asked excitedly. “Will it have pictures?”

“Ah, yeah.” Wirt nodded, slightly absent as they approached the end of the hallway. “Do you want to do the pictures and I’ll do the words?”

“Why can’t we both do both?” He asked as he looked up at Wirt, perplexed. The taller sibling shrugged again.

“It’s just… Easier to delegate the work out to whoever is best at each task.”

Greg nodded as if he understood what Wirt meant.

“Okay. That makes sense.” He said with an air of certainty. Wirt admired his half brother’s ability to pretend he knew these things, and to pretend so well.

Greg was about to begin babbling about their adventure or whatever else, but stopped short. Wirt gasped audibly at the sight before them.

The flower was back.

“Well, aren’t you two just sooo nice.” Said flower crooned, looking annoyed despite his smile. “You just let everyone go on their merry way, didn’t you?”

Greg frowned. “We did, I think. Was there something wrong?” Wirt looked down at Greg, allowing him to speak for both of them once more.

“No, not wrong.” Flowey shook his head. Or rather, the entire flower part of his being? “But not right, either. You just don’t understand this world.”

“We don’t?” Greg looked entirely perplexed. “I don’t think anything bad happened though. That’s good! We’ve been doing good so far.” Clarence croaked his approval.

Flowey laughed, donning what Wirt would only describe as a sinister, evil look.

“Idiots. Both of… No, all three of you.” He sneered. “You don’t understand. In this world, it’s kill or be killed. At this rate, you won’t survive much longer, especially out there.” Flowey laughed maliciously. “What will happen when you meet a monster with the intent to kill you, huh? What will you do then?” Wirt shivered, it felt like Flowey was personally threatening them.

“W-we’ll burn that bridge when we get to it.” Wirt said, with only a fraction of the confidence his step brother possessed.

“Yeah!” Greg chimed. “We’ve got things covered! But thanks for trying to help us anyway!” Flowey scowled.

“I’m not helping you!” He retorted, then sighed. “Oh, whatever. You’ll kill somebody eventually anyway, so why am I wasting my time?” Wirt stiffened.

“We’ll… We’ll prove you wrong, Flowey.” He spoke up again. “We haven’t had to hurt anyone so far. Why would we… I mean, there’s always a way out.” He stated, glancing from Greg to Flowey. “Everything’s fine.”

“Heh, that’s what YOU think.” The plant spat. “You’ll see. When you die, you’ll see!” He broke into a smile again, and barked a laugh that chilled the humans to the bone. Clarence went back to hiding in Greg’s overalls, evidently also chilled.

Greg and Wirt watched the flower suck itself back into the ground, and vanish as if he were never there. Wirt shuddered and leaned down to grab Greg’s hand.

“Come on, that looks like the official way out.” He said quietly, looking urgent. Greg blinked and nodded, squeezing Wirt’s hand. They walked over the patch of grass Flowey had appeared in, and together they shoved the door open.

“It’ll all be alright, Wirt,” Greg said soothingly as the door budged.

“Thanks, Greg.” Wirt muttered back.

“You’re welcome!”

Wirt took a glance back into the Ruins before the heavy door swung shut forever. His eyes widened when he failed to see the patch of grass and the long hallway they had just walked. Instead, he saw the room Greg and himself had fought Toriel in. He would have done a double-take if the door hadn’t already closed.

Had that been a dream, perhaps? Was the world changing around them as they traveled through it? Had they just popped out of a pocket dimension? Wirt brain swam as he tried to process this, coming up with a million theories for what he just experienced. He strongly hoped the easiest explanation was the correct one. He HAD to have dreamt that.

He looked at Greg. “Uh, we just met Flowey again, right?”

“Huh? Yeah, we did.” He replied, looking up at Wirt.

So much for the easy way out.

Then, no way that was a trick of his subconscious. Was there another monster messing around with them? Did the Beast follow them down, or was that an overworld thing?

Greg’s face contorted into a concerned frown. “Are you feeling okay? You look all white.”

“U-uh. Yeah. I’m okay.” Wirt stammered and shook his head. “Let’s get going…”

“Okay, Wirt! But I have a question.” Greg reached up to grab Wirt’s hand again.

“Yeah, Greg?”

“How did it snow here? I thought we were in a hole.”

“It what?”

To his further alarm and confusion, he found that Greg was right. It appeared to have snowed here, but upon looking up, he was greeted with the stalagmite-covered ceiling of the underground cave.

“I don’t know.” He stopped himself from frying his brain further, opting not to think about it. “But regardless, let’s go.”

“don’t move.”

Wirt squeaked and tensed, freezing where he was. Greg, however, gasped loudly and dramatically, spinning around.

“Who said that? Hello?” He asked. Wirt shushed Greg quickly.

“It said don’t move Greg oh my god stop moving!!!” He spoke quickly with a hiss, and Greg stopped spinning, remaining still. Wirt heard a laugh.

“hey, now. wait a second.” This time, the voice was accompanied by footsteps trudging through the snow. “i just want to get a look at you.”

Wirt resisted the urge to flinch when a short skeleton made its’ way into his line of sight. It was somewhere between Greg’s and Wirt’s heights, yet somehow Wirt knew it was an adult. It looked a little out of place, at least compared to the skeletons he had encountered in the Unknown. This one was wearing human clothing, not straw and veggies. His skull was exposed, no pumpkin to cover up. It definitely wasn’t a human skeleton. Maybe in shape, sure, but no human he ever knew had bones that thick. Wirt guessed it must have been born a skeleton. It wore a permanent grin (as most skeletons did, Wirt supposed), and it’s posture was overall relaxed.

The skeleton looked Wirt up and down, appearing to run a similar examination on him, then met his eyes with it’s own white pin prick pupils.

“yep, i was right the first time. you two are definitely humans.” It nodded, and Wirt shuddered, frowning deeply. This made the skeleton laugh. “sorry if i scared you. i just didn’t want you to run off before i introduced myself. i’m sans, sans the skeleton.” The monster stuck his hand out. “put ‘er there.”

Wirt let his tension drop a little, and went to shake it’s hand, but Greg beat him to it, grabbing the hand enthusiastically.

There was a loud, flatulent noise, then a solid three seconds of silence.

Greg began to laugh, covering his face with one hand, still grasping Sans’ hand with his other. Wirt’s face went red, well more red than it had already gotten from the climate change.

“Greg! That was so risky!” he scolded a little, looking from the skeleton to his step sibling. “What if it hurt you?”

“pardon, but i’m not an ‘it’.” Sans cut in, still managing to sound nonchalant. “i use he and him, please.” If possible, Wirt went even more red.

“I-I’m sorry, uh, Mr… Skeleton,” He fumbled, as Greg’s laughter calmed. “It’s just, ahh, I’m, geez.” He looked away. Sans released Greg’s hand to make a surrender gesture in front of himself. Wirt then saw the deflated whoopee cushion Greg had unknowingly grabbed mid-handshake.

“it’s cool. you didn’t know.” He shrugged, and watched Greg catch his breath. “i’m glad you liked the whoopee cushion. there’s not a lot of appreciation for her lately as there used to be.”

“I thought it was funny!” Greg said, still smiling wide. “My parents don’t like whoopee cushions either, I just don’t get it!” Sans nodded in solemn agreement.

“i hope, one day, appreciation for whoopee cushions returns. it’s always great to meet a fellow supporter.” He stated, and Greg suddenly nodded back, seriously. Sans chuckled.

“E-err, hate to break up the, uh, whatever is happening here,” Wirt piped up. “But we’re looking for a way out of here.” Sans looked back to Wirt.

“a way out? that’s neat.” Sans kicked a little at the snow with his… fuzzy pink slippers? “a lot of monsters here are looking for ways out too. no luck yet, unfortunately.” The skeleton turned. “c’mon, walk with me. i’m assuming you don’t know where you’re headed around here.”

“Nope!” Greg practically sang, running to walk beside Sans. “We didn’t pack a map. We’re adventurers!”

“ah, is that so?” Sans hummed. “then maybe i’ll only give you some tips and tricks for getting by around here and let the rest of your journey be organic.” Wirt quickly ran forward to walk by Greg’s other side.

“Actually no, a map or something would be great!” He said quickly. Sans looked surprised by the sudden straightforwardness of the taller human, but responded shortly nonetheless.

“i would love to just hand it over, but it isn’t that easy.” Sans explained, gesturing with one hand. “fact is, i don’t even have a map on me. i don’t do that much traveling.” Wirt wilted a little.

“Can you bring us to a person who does, then?” He asked, slightly impatient. Sans chuckled.

“let’s not get hasty here.” He chided softly. “tell ya what. ask me whatever you want, and i’ll answer to the best of my ability.” Wirt became filled with excitement, they’d already found a companion!

“How are you walking?” Greg immediately stole the first question. Wirt was about to cut in, but Sans beat him, answering gleefully.

“i’m a monster. monsters are made up mostly of magic, hence why i’m alive and walking.” He answered in simplest form.

“Okay! Are there other skeletons?” Greg asked another question quickly. Sans seemed to remember something.

“oh, shoot. yeah, there is.” He said, fondly. “my brother, papyrus, he’s also a skeleton. but i’m pretty sure we’re the only two, we haven’t ever met another skeleton.” He spoke the last bit with a hint of nostalgia, and Wirt wondered if he was lying. “but, papyrus. he’s the only other skeleton this place really needs. he’s a pretty cool guy.”

“Oh! That’s nice, can we meet him?” Greg asked again, and Wirt resisted the urge to demand his brother be quiet and let him ask more important questions.

“yeah, sure.” Sans shrugged. “but be careful. he’s gotten into human-hunting lately.”

Wirt paled.

“Hunting?” He clarified. “Does that include hurting? Or killing? Are you kidnapping us?!” Wirt stopped walking, forcing the other two to stop. Sans held his hands up defensively again.

“i’m not kidnapping you.” He said first, raising his voice just slightly to combat Wirt’s panicked rambling. “you don’t have to follow me, i’m not forcing you. just thought i’d offer, y’know. feel free to adventure around on your own.” Greg huffed.

“Wirt, he’s just a friendly skeleton.” Greg looked up at his step brother. “And I think he’s good like goat mom was!” Wirt shied away a little, embarrassed of his anxious outburst, while Sans perked up.

“‘goat mom’?” He questioned. Greg whirled back around almost dizzyingly to see Sans again.

“Oh yes! Behind that door down there,” Greg pointed in the direction they’d come. “There’s a really nice goat lady who took care of us for a little while! But we had to leave her so we could keep adventuring.”

“oh, that sounds nice.” The pin pricks in his eyes vanished and he looked at the door down the path they’d just walked. “how is she doing?” Wirt gulped. The skeleton abruptly threw him an aura of intimidation.

“She’s doing good!” Greg said, chipper again. “I think she was sad that we had to go, though.”

All at once, Sans became less intimidating again. The pin prick pupils returned.

“eh, to be expected, i suppose.” He looked back to where they were headed, and started walking again. “i’d be sad too, but i’m sure she’s doing fine.”

“Yeah. We’ll visit again sometime later, maybe after our adventure’s done!” Greg told Sans, who looked like he wanted to say something. Greg tilted his head, blinking. “What’s the matter?”

“uh, nothing.” Sans said. “sorry ‘bout that. hey, we should keep walking.” He suggested, as he did just that. Greg kept up, and Wirt babbled for a second before speeding forward with them.

“Hold up! You didn’t answer me about your brother!” He cried, anxiety returning anew, but maybe not as strong.

“oh yeah. whoops. my bad.” Sans shrugged. “the human-hunting thing, right? yeah, he’s into it lately, but i don’t think he’d ever actually hurt or capture one. it’s just one of his special interests right now.” He explained. Wirt sighed in relief, his breath clouding in front of him. “maybe if he joins the royal guard, though, then he might learn how to do all those things.”

That caught Wirt’s attention again.

“What’s the Royal Guard?” Greg asked curiously, and Wirt thanked the stars his brother was on the same page as him this time.

“it’s this group the king set up to enforce laws and protect citizens.” Sans described. Wirt drew comparisons to police officers as Sans spoke. “their primary objective is to capture humans, but since there’s so few of them that come down here, they mostly sit around waiting.”

“Are you part of the Royal Guard?” Greg asked, without missing a beat. Sans shook his head with a laugh.

“nah, i’m too lazy. i’d just let the humans go and get fired immediately.” He hummed thoughtfully. “who knows, though? maybe if papyrus joins, i’ll apply to become a sentry or something. oh, speaking of sentries…”

Sans stopped this time, prompting the humans to halt as well. Ahead of them was a booth-like structure, just off the path. Wirt was about to ask why Sans had stopped, but bit his tongue when he saw a dog-like muzzle poke out over the counter of the booth. Sans’ voice was low when he spoke next.

“don’t move an inch.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sans carefully leads Wirt and Greg to his town, where they quickly assert their presence, not unlike another pair of local siblings.
> 
> [[seems people are beginning to put the pieces together, so lemme say it upfront; this takes place much before Frisk arrives in the Underground, so if things seem like they're lacking continuity to the game, that is why uvu
> 
> thank you guys for enjoying so far and leaving me lovely comments!! every new comment I read fills me with the determination I need to write another chapter, so thank you so much!
> 
> also, bonus points for those who catch the reference to my favourite band at the end of the chapter c:]]

Wirt’s body went rigid and he felt a sense of dread overcome him, as Greg simply stood still beside him. Wirt had to wonder what was up with Sans and making him nervous. He chalked it up to his anxiety and the whole animate skeleton thing.

Sans moved forward and Wirt kept a careful eye on him.

“heyo, doggo,” Sans called as he approached the wooden booth structure, and the dog muzzle leaned forward to reveal an entire dog’s head. It was clear to the humans that this wasn’t a dog they were familiar with; his eyes were human-like, large and cartoonish, and his paws, visible on the counter of the booth, seemed more a mix of human hands and dog paws.

The dog monster squinted. “Is that Sans?” he sniffed, and as Sans waved a hand in a greeting manner, the dog nodded. “Yes, you’re Sans.”

“the one and only.” Sans replied.

“How was your walk?” Doggo asked, seeming chipper. Sans shrugged.

“pretty good today. i made a few friends and we messed around with the human junk pile just up north of the ruins.”

“Oh, very good!” Doggo nodded vigorously. “I have a feeling that pile will give way and slide downstream soon. It trembles every time a new piece falls down.”

“ah, does it? man, you’re so observant.”

“I have to be! I would suck at my job if I wasn’t!”

“right-o, doggo.”

“Ah, we got a little off topic. Where are your friends?”

“i was getting to that, actually.” Sans leaned on one hip and looked over at Wirt and Greg, who both hadn’t moved the entire time. Greg waved thoughtlessly when Sans looked over, prompting Wirt to let out a nervous, low ‘Greg!’, before the younger human was still again. Sans snorted.

“they’re over there.” He said, completely chill. Wirt yelped. “the tall one is wirt, the little one is greg. he has a froggit in his pants, so don’t worry if they suddenly move.” He explained to Doggo. Greg brightened, relieved that they could move again, and quickly trotted over to stand beside Sans.

“Hi, Mr. Dog!” he waved enthusiastically. Sans didn’t miss the strangled cry of alarm Wirt let out when his brother ran off, and couldn’t help a lighthearted smile, wondering if this was typical. After a moment, Wirt stomped over too, grumbling a little.

“Hi, uh, Doggo.” Wirt said awkwardly, looking at the snow on the ground. Doggo huffed and sniffed.

“Hi Wirt, and hi Greg. And Froggit.” The dog monster frowned. “I thought Froggits were native to the ruins.”

“He’s an adventure frog!” Greg chirped. “We’re all adventurers!” This seemed to be enough explanation for Doggo, who growled in understanding.

“I see, very good!” he sniffed again. “Say, you both reek of human.”

“That’s because—”

“we were messing with human junk, remember?” Sans cut in.

“What?” Greg looked up in confusion. Wirt quickly nodded, smiling nervously.

“Yeah! Human junk! A lot of it, right Greg?” He nearly rambled, looking down at his step brother. The smaller human’s eyes went wide.

“Ohhhhh.” He nodded too, pursing his lips. “That’s right. Human junk.” Sans held back a laugh as he looked at the two humans, clearly inexperienced in the art of improvisation.

“Oh right.” Doggo remembered, but sniffed again. “That’s a strong stench though. You should probably wash up when you’re back home.” He looked to Sans, narrowing his eyes. “Why are you safe from the human smell?”

“eh, you know me. i only watched them climb around the garbage mound. couldn’t be bothered to do any climbing myself.”

Doggo still looked skeptical, but appeared fine with the excuse. “Okay, Sans. Guess I’ll see you tomorrow! Take care.”

“peace out.” Sans did a little salute, turning to continue walking.

“Bye, Mr. Dog!”

“Eh, bye Doggo.”

“See you later, you two. Stay out of trouble!”

OoOoO

The group made their way through the rest of the snowy underground forest, talking and getting to know each other well. Greg, of course, trusted Sans right away and was comfortable around the skeleton from the get-go. By extension, Froggo the frog was also chill with Sans immediately. Wirt, however nervous at first, found he was easing up slowly but surely around Sans. It felt like, in no time, there was an air of comfortableness shared between the four beings.

To Wirt’s distress, there were several more dog-like monsters to encounter on their way to Sans’ home. Sans helped them easily get by each of them, and Wirt soon found the skeleton’s spontaneity to be admirable. He kept the humans swiftly undercover, coming up with excuses as to why they weren’t humans, or even serving as a distraction for the humans to sneak around.

The one guard Sans allowed them near on their own was ‘Lesser Dog’, with the only instruction being to pet the creature. Greg had a lot of fun with that.

Wirt ended up learning a lot about the underground, some he knew from Toriel’s books and some new stuff too. He learned of monster biology, and of local culture, but he found it most interesting to hear how Sans described the war between humans and monsters. He seemed surprised that both he and his brother hadn’t learned of it on the surface, but explained the war to them regardless. He didn’t make it clear whether he had been there to witness the war or not, and when Wirt asked, Sans remained cryptic.

That was one thing he didn’t like about Sans. He was cryptic. Greg didn’t notice it, simply asking basic questions and electing to ignore all he didn’t understand, but Wirt did notice, and Sans’ secrecy bothered him. He was compelled to ask more about the skeleton later, if him and Greg managed to stay with him that long.

After what felt like no time but infinity all at once, the group found themselves in Sans’ town.

“alright guys, welcome to snowdin.” Sans introduced, gesturing to the sign and the rest of the space before them. “wanna look around before going to my house?”

Greg practically had stars in his eyes. “I wanna explore! Wirt, can we explore?” He asked excitedly, bouncing from foot to foot. Froggo croaked with a matching level of enthusiasm. Wirt cracked a smile.

“Okay, let’s look around.” He caved, eliciting a cheer from his step brother as he sprinted to the nearest building, what looked to be a general store.

“so i’ll meet you guys at the end of the road up ahead,” Sans spoke up, looking up at Wirt. “my house is the very last one, way over there.” He pointed. Wirt nodded, noting the location of Sans’ house and then keeping an eye on his brother again.

“Yeah, okay. See you there whenever?” Wirt asked, already trailing after Greg. The skeleton shrugged.

“see you there whenever.” Sans agreed, and watched Wirt follow Greg inside before he headed home to check on his own little brother.

When Wirt walked inside, he was hit immediately with all the scents of a bakery. He felt like he could sneeze. The second thing he noticed was a purple-furred rabbit-like creature standing behind a glass cabinet filled with sweets. Behind her were a couple shelves stocked with some books and boxes, some of which were clearly were for sale like clothing items, and some of which seemed more like things one may find in a home like picture frames and papers. The rabbit woman must have lived in her shop. What a small, cute little place.

Wirt walked over to Greg, who was standing in front of the glass cabinet. The rabbit woman seemed amused by the child, watching him flutter from pastry to pastry in awe. Wirt watched in amusement also, smiling before he looked at the monster he assumed ran the shop.

“Hello, travellers. How can I help you?” She asked, one hand on her hip and the other on the glass cabinet. Wirt waved.

“Hello, we’re just passing through. Your shop looks lovely.” He complimented. She smiled.

“Thanks, hun.” She replied happily and looked down to Greg. “Hey there, fella.” Greg looked up at her through the glass.

“Hiya!” He replied giddily. “Everything looks awesome! You’re a good baker!”

“Aw, thanks, but you haven’t even tasted anything yet.” She chuckled. Greg nodded.

“Yeah, but I’m sure it tastes as awesome as it looks!” He bubbled. The rabbit woman softened.

“How sweet of you.” She chimed, opening up the door at the back of the cabinet and reaching inside. “Would you like to sample one?” She pulled out one of the cinnamon buns, and Wirt faltered.

“Ah, we don’t have any money. We really shouldn’t.” He said quickly. The monster waved her hand.

“Oh, nonsense. Here, on the house.” She handed him the treat, and he looked down at it before returning his gaze to her.

“We’ll pay you back. Thank you for this.” Wirt thanked and looked down to Greg, placing the pastry into his step sibling’s waiting, eager little hands. The child began to eat it semi-delicately, offering pieces to Wirt who diligently ate each one, feeling his mood continue to improve.

“So where are you two from? You’re certainly not local.” The shop owner inquired, and Wirt blinked.

“Oh, we’re just adventurers, just exploring the area, y’know.” He shrugged, trying to channel his inner spontaneity.

“Is that so? Do you live in the Capitol?” She asked. Sans had mentioned the Capitol when he was speaking of the Royal Guard earlier, it was apparently where a huge lot of habitat-flexible monsters lived. Wirt nodded.

“Err yeah. We’ve never really gotten a chance to come this far away.” He said smoothly, or at least tried. He felt he may have been a little stiff. Regardless, the rabbit monster nodded.

“We don’t get a lot of monsters from the Capitol all the way out here.” She notified, crossing her arms and smiling. “I certainly hope you enjoy your stay. Will you be staying at the inn next door?”

“Yeah!” He said quickly, but then stammered. “Uh, well, actually, we might be staying with a friend in the area. Do you know Sans?”

“Sans? Yeah, I’ve seen him around.” She looked thoughtful. “He moved here with his brother recently. They haven’t been here for long, but it seems they’re situating themselves rather nicely into Snowdin.”

“Huh. It seems like everyone around here knows Sans.” Wirt thought aloud, failing to realize he spoke out loud until the shop owner laughed in good nature.

“Yes, he and his brother are rather popular right now.” She said. “We don’t get many newcomers, it’s a small town, so their arrival was quite the big news. They’ve learned the ropes rather quickly, I’m sure they’ll get along well here. I feel like life will get a little less quiet with them around.” Wirt saw a fondness in her posture that said she had been waiting for something to spice up her life for a while now.

“Thanks for the bun, Miss Bunny!” Greg piped up once he and Froggo had finished the cinnamon bun, and she looked down at them with affection.

“You’re very welcome. But next time, it’s 25g.” She winked, and Greg felt like he’d made a secret pact. He winked back.

“Will do, Miss Bunny.” He said seriously. She waved her hand, letting her other arm fall to her side as she placed her hand on her hip.

“Please, call me Izzy.” She insisted and Wirt headed for the door.

“Thanks a lot, Izzy, we’ll be by again.” Wirt promised with a wave as he opened the door, only for Greg to rocket out before him. He and Izzy shared a laugh.

“Take care, come by anytime!” She waved as the siblings left.

Wirt quickly scurried after his quick step brother, and they went from building to building very quickly after that. Wirt wondered if it was the effect of having food in his belly, or just excitement at being in such a bright and happy location for once, but Greg was probably the happiest he’d seen him in a long time. Sure, he was normally a happy, pleasant child, but right now he was overjoyed.

Wirt found he quite liked seeing his brother so happy.

He then wondered if Sans’ big brother aura had rubbed off on him.

He totally didn’t mind.


End file.
